Vocabulary for Achievement 4th Course Lesson 3

Beguile

1. To charm; delight

2. To deceive skillfully

The car salesman tried to beguile the customer with an offer of free gas for a year.

Benevolent

1. Wishing to do good; kindly; characterized by helpful intentions

2. Concerned with, or for the benefit of charity

Feeding the homeless is a benevolent deed.

Decorum

1. Appropriateness of behavior; propriety

He behaved with professional decorum and carried out the work.

Demeanor

1. The way one behaves or presents oneself; one's manner

Because Jason is known for having a rude demeanor, he does not get a lot of party invites.

Feral

1. Wild and untamed; savage

2. Having returned to an untamed state from domestication

After living in the forest for five years, the child had become feral and no longer knew how to act like a human.

Ignoble

1. Mean, unethical, or dishonorable; not noble in character

2. Not of the nobility; common

Frank was a greedy man who had only ignoble motives when he helped the young heiress.

Mores

1. Accepted standards and customs of a social group

Sometimes TV reflects our changing social mores, writes Melinda Houston, while other times it helps to shape them.

Provincial

1. Relating to areas that are far from large cities or capitals

2. Not sophisticated, fashionable, or informed; culturally limited

3. Limited or narrow in perspective

In many romantic-comedy movies, the heroine dreams of leaving her provincial life to find her Prince Charming in the big city.

Unseemly

1. Unfitting and inappropriate; grossly improper

When my mother remarried two days after her divorce was finalized, everyone said her behavior was unseemly.

Wily

1. Cunning; full of trickery or intentions to deceive

The wily cartoon character was always thinking of ways to steal food.